Speech-Language Pathology

MA

Why our master's degree in speech and language pathology?

You'll have the opportunity to work alongside faculty mentors and experienced staff in state-of-the-art facilities. Conduct or assist with research projects that focus on understanding or improving all forms of communication and gain hands-on experience by working with patients ranging from infants to the elderly. Work closely with our Carls Center for Clinical Care and Education that serves people in central and northern Michigan.

Our program's curriculum will prepare you to work with individuals of all ages who have needs related to:

• Articulation.
• Fluency.
• Voice and resonance.
• Receptive and expressive language.
• Hearing.
• Swallowing.
• Cognitive aspects of communication.
• Social aspects of communication.
• Communication modalities.

Our master's degree in speech and language pathology program leads to eligibility for clinical certification and prepares students to work in all clinical settings.

What will you learn while pursuing a master's degree in speech and language pathology?

Graduates with a master's degree in speech and language pathology will:

• Appropriately diagnose and evaluate various pathologies as well as implement appropriate treatment options for patients with speech, language and swallowing impairments.
• Complete the variety of coursework and supervised clinical experiences necessary to meet the requirements for the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
• Obtain the judgment necessary to provide professional and ethical speech-language pathology services to the public regardless of age, race or culture.
• Partner with the Occupational Therapy program at Saginaw Valley State University to provide sensory evaluations and individualized sensory plans for children in our Summer Speech-Language Specialty Clinics.
• Collaborate with Dr. Chomchai and the MyMichigan Physicians Group to provide videostroboscopy/fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) evaluations to patients with voice or swallowing concerns in the Carls Center for Clinical Care and Education.

Our speech-language pathology students successfully complete the program and perform well on the Praxis Examination. You can explore detailed speech language pathology student outcome data to see our students' achievements.

Values

To achieve our mission and program goals, the division of speech-language pathology has identified the following values, listed in no particular order as they have all been determined to be of equal importance. Our division wholeheartedly embraces the values of:

• Compassion and respect to self and others - We respond to each other and ourselves with compassion and respect, honoring our boundaries and extending the most generous interpretation possible to the intention, words and actions of others and ourselves.
• Diversity, equity and inclusion - We ensure that all spaces are inclusive to celebrate each individual and foster a sense of belonging. We live our commitment to diversity and equity to cultivate compassionate, caring and informed students and clinicians by meeting individuals where they are and empowering their success.
• Excellence and innovation - We strive for excellence in research, teaching and clinical practice, using innovation and creativity to continuously improve our ability to meet the needs of all.
• Growth mindset - We are internally motivated as life-long learners, embracing curiosity and acknowledging that we continue to grow in multiple ways over time.
• Integrity - We value honesty, ethics and accountability in all academic, research and clinical experiences.
• Service - We believe in serving and supporting others using our powers of collaboration, community and advocacy.